Alexandra Weasley: Book 4

54

"Let me see if I've understood you correctly. You rode a unicorn who took you to another undiscovered part of the forest where there was a treasure trove. Being the smart and sensible individual that you are, it didn't occur to you that there was a curse on the treasure. You picked up a crown and now you can't take it off?"

"It did occur to me that there was a curse on it. But Mari seemed insistent that it was fine and she wouldn't move until I took something. And nothing happened when I picked up the ruby so I figured it was okay."

"How is it you always manage to find yourself in these situations?" Alex shrugged.

"Genes? Blame your brother." He sent her an exasperated look. She opened her bag and brought out the ruby, emerald and diamond. "Does this mean I'm rich now? Or does it belong to Hogwarts or something?" He stood up, walked over to a shelf, picked out a potion and downed it. "Maybe I should've broken it to you in hypotheticals. Are you okay? Do you need Madam Pomfrey?" He stared at her in disbelief. "Did I break you?" He massaged his temples, just standing in silence. Eventually he let out a sigh.

"I'll have to ask Sal about the treasure, but let me see about getting the crown off." He walked over and attempted to touch the piece of jewellery. He hissed as it zapped him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Nothing happened. I don't think it wants you to touch it."

"A sentient crown."

"Circlet." She corrected. "I can't walk around the school wearing this. Laila cannot see this." Her eyes widened. "She can never know about this."

"The treasure?"

"Any of it. She sees me wearing the circlet and I will never have a chance at a normal life. She's going to want to make me flaunt it or something. She's going to blackmail me. I can't give her any more material." Alex looked around the room and grabbed Snape's hat and pulled it on. He hid a smile.

"You think my wizard's hat will be less conspicuous?" She took it off sheepishly.

"Sorry, I panicked."

"We'll get it off, don't worry. Just take a deep breath and calm down." She nodded, abashed at her actions.

"It's just kind of been stressful lately."

"We could set up your meetings with Shay, again." He offered.

"I'm not so sure it would help." She said.

"You thought it would in the summer." He questioned. "And you stopped going when you stopped trusting me."

"That's not a problem anymore." She said. "I'm here now, aren't I? But I don't know if I can ever trust her. It's not because of her, it's just- I know she's magically bound to not say a word to anyone. Not Voldemort, not even you. But then when I found your letter I didn't know if you were a Voldeminion and I used that as an excuse to get out of sessions with her."

"No one expects you to bare your soul straight away. Building rapport can take time, but only if you're willing to work on it too." She looked downcast. "I'm not going to force you, it's entirely your choice."

"Maybe not just yet." She said. "I wanna focus on Cedric getting through the tournament without getting too banged up and with a win."

"I didn't think it was your scene." He said.

"It's not. But he has his reasons and honestly, Harry's an idiot. Cedric's our shot at bringing Hogwarts glory." His eyes glinted in silent amusement. "Speaking of, Hermione and the double trouble act know about your past." She gestured to her arm where the dark mark would go.

"How?"

"Harry was in Dumbledore's office, stumbled into a pensieve where Karkaroff tried to sell you out to the ministry." Snape frowned.

"Shall I expect rumours?"

"Hermione's keeping them in check. I assured her you weren't still evil and I guess that's good enough for her." He seemed a little annoyed that he owed his secret to Hermione and Alex smirked. "Is there anything we can do to get this off me?" She pointed at the circlet on her head. He studied it.

"Doesn't look like an ordinary sticking charm. As much as I loathe to say it, we might have to consult Moody."

"No, I already lied to him about it." Alex said. "Besides, I doubt it's cursed. He would have said something. He said he couldn't see transfiguration magic on it."

"Why would he see transfiguration magic?"

"I told him I transfigured it."

"So what did you say to that?"

"That I took the wrong one. That I was transfiguring to match a friend's. And then I came straight here." She said.

"There's some sort of magic on it." He inspected it.

"I just had to put it on." She huffed. "Also, what do I do with that?" She pointed at the gems on the desk.

"Finder's keepers." He said. "Leave them with me and I'll inspect them for magical influences."

"Sure." She said.

"Let me try a diagnostic charm." He said. She nodded and sat still letting him raise his wand to her head. She heard him mutter a spell and then a crash. She turned and saw that he'd fallen back across the room. She jumped up to check if he was okay.

"Oops?" She tried and he didn't look very pleased. "You know, maybe just a glamour spell, until it decides to come off?"

"Will that work?" He asked her. "A diagnostic charm affects the circlet. Glamour affects you too, and with your... immunity, it might not work."

"I'm starting to think unicorn blessings are super sucky rather than helpful."

"Well, think of it like this. Without Venus's blessing, Cho would have cursed you." She thought.

"There's some perks, I guess. But still, I'd like to be able to use drying charms on my hair after a swim."

A/N- my favourite line in this part is when he asks how she manages to get herself in situations and Alex says 'Genes? Blame your brother' lmfao, Snape's so done. Also, Alex literally just grabbing his hat- y'all she's super comfy with him now. Anyways enjoyyy 💜💜